Greetings for a sweet New Year
September 11, 2017
The exchanging of Jewish New Year greetings goes back centuries. With the industrial revolution printing became inexpensive and entrepreneurs began selling cards printed specifically for Rosh Hashanah. These cards were …
Can you spot a fake?
August 21, 2017
If you were shopping in a market in Thailand and came across a cheap Kate Spade handbag, you would probably be right in thinking that the bag is a reproduction …
Holocaust survivor, society darling and acclaimed portrait artist
August 8, 2017
‘’I always say God paints the last brushstroke on my portraits, because I leave them to mature for a few weeks after I’ve finished them and when I come back …
Save our history
July 13, 2017
When the Museum opened nearly 25 years ago, the Holocaust Survivors initiated a collection of Holocaust related material by donating precious objects and images. These personal belongings provide the narrative …
‘You have nothing to lose but your cultural cringe’
February 20, 2017
The Museum has recently acquired the first ever issue of POL, a cutting edge magazine which expressed the preoccupations of a generation of Australians. The acquisition is part of a …
In love and Auschwitz
February 10, 2017
This is an intriguing story of resistance and survival. Born in 1914 in a small Polish village, Salem Schott moved with his family to Berlin after the First World War. …
A pair of pants from Auschwitz
February 9, 2017
It is amazing what treasures can be found sitting in the back shed or the garage*. Today we received an extraordinary donation of an Auschwitz concentration camp jacket and pair …
I need a hero…
January 10, 2017
“If a person destroys one life, it is as if they have destroyed the entire world. And if a person saves one life, it is as if they have saved …
What a lot of nonsense
December 21, 2016
Speakers of Yiddish will be well familiar with the term bobba mayseh. Often mistranslated as “an old wife’s tale” (from bobba = “grandmother” and mayseh = “story”), bobba mayseh a …
Graphic Art and the Struggle to Represent the Holocaust
December 6, 2016
Graphic Art and the Struggle to Represent the Holocaust: Wenona High Students create a Holocaust themed Graphic Novel One of the most rewarding experiences for members of the education department …
The art of interpretation
December 2, 2016
For this year’s Design Thinking day, the Museum commissioned Year 10 students from the Wenona School to create a graphic novel strip based on the testimony of Holocaust survivor Eddie …
‘Jewish Wizards’ and where to find them
November 29, 2016
Throughout pre-modern history, death was a familiar visitor in the home. Even as late as the 18th century, poorer families in Europe could expect that at least half of their …
The League of Nations
November 21, 2016
The saying goes that it takes a village to raise a child, and at the SJM it has taken a league of nations to build our new exhibition. From Australia, …
Still too busy to blog…
November 10, 2016
It’s not unusual these days to see our curators caked in dust, ferrying wads of paper around and consulting with construction workers. In lieu of a written update, Head Curator Roslyn …
Vale Edith Szanto
November 1, 2016
I met Edith more than ten years ago one Sunday morning in shopping centre of all places. There she was, sitting next to me as I had my coffee, this …
Inside the autograph book
October 13, 2016
The autograph book above was donated to the museum by Yola Schneider (nee Rawdin). It was presented to her new, at the school she attended in Piastów, Poland following …
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